Policies for Contribution of Test Cases to W3C

This document discusses patent, copyright, and liability issues
surrounding the contribution of test cases to W3C. The purpose of
this policy is to clarify the terms for contributing test cases to
W3C and to facilitate contributions from Working Group Participants.

All obligations covered by Grant II.
No licensing obligation for patents.

License Grants (Grant I,
Grant II)
required of non-Participants are separate online forms linked from the
matrix. To use these forms you will need a W3C account. You can
request one through the Public Access Request
Form.

In order to protect the Contributor against liability that might
appear if a third party relies on the contributed materials and
encounters damage, the following disclaimer is
included into the contribution declaration to the W3C. Note that
materials retained for publication will be distributed carrying a
similar disclaimer attached to the W3C Document
license.

In all cases, contributions are
provided as is, and contributors make no representations or
warranties, express or implied, including, but not limited to,
warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose,
non-infringement, or title; that the contents of the contributions are
suitable for any purpose. especially, contributors make no
representations, express or implied, that the contributions or the use
thereof indicates conformance to a specification; contributions are
provided only to help reaching interoperability.

Each Working Group compiles contributed test cases into one or more
test suites. The group also decides whether to publish the test
suite(s) as part of a W3C Recommendation or outside the
Recommendation. There are advantages to each approach:

As Part of a Recommendation

Group participants benefit from the W3C Patent Policy
commitments they make when joining a Working Group;
no extra effort inside their organizations is required of them.

Publication as part a Recommendation have lend more normative
weight to the test suite. This may affect the level of
recognition of the test suite.

According to the current policy, inclusion in the Recommendation
lowers the risk of surprises because contributors agree to various
W3C policies, including the W3C Patent Policy.

Outside a Recommendation

Publication outside the Recommendation allows the
Working Group to modify the tests without having to rebuild
consensus around the changes through the Recommendation Track
Process; no Advisory Committee review or Director's Decision
is required.

According to the current policy, publication outside the
Recommendation does not involve any obligations to license
patents according to the W3C Royalty-Free License.

Patent licensing obligations
are governed by the patent policy under which the
specification was produced (for example, the
W3C Patent Policy).

Copyright and document distribution issues are governed by the W3C
Copyright Policy and the Member agreement. This policy both promotes
the distribution of a test suite as it was agreed upon within W3C
and protects the test suite from unapproved modifications that might
harm interoperability.

No Contributors are bound by the W3C Patent Policy licensing
requirements for test suites published outside a W3C Recommendation,
even if the relevant Recommendation was developed under the W3C Patent
Policy. To help foster confidence in the test suites, all Contributors
(Member and non-Member):

Should disclose patents (1) about which they have actual
knowledge, and (2) that they believe contain claims essential to the
usage of the test suites.

May agree to submit the material according to the terms of the W3C
Patent Policy Licensing Requirements. Submitters who do so have no
disclosure requirement.